Online Marketplace Etsy Is Going Public

Etsy, the online seller of handmade crafts and vintage goods, is planning to go public as soon as this quarter with plans to raise $300 million, sources told Bloomberg News.

If the Brooklyn-based site rakes in that amount of cash, it would be the biggest New York tech IPO since 1999. The last time a New York-based tech company garnered that kind of a valuation was the dot-com boom when high valuations benefited listings from TD Waterhouse Group and Barnesandnoble.com, the e-commerce spinoff of the bookstore chain.

Etsy was started by painter and carpenter Rob Kalin in 2005. The multi-talented artist was looking for a way to sell his hand-built goods and started the online exchange. The company now has nearly 26 million items listed on its site–anything from vintage champagne coups to handmade dog collars.

Etsy, which has been valued at more than $1 billion, brings in its profits by charging sellers 20 cents to list products and then takes another 3.5% commission from each item sold. It also generates revenue from advertising and payment procession. In 2013, the site reported $1.35 billion in gross merchandise sales, according to its website.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are working with Etsy on its IPO, and the company is likely to file a prospectus this month with more financial details, sources told Bloomberg.